


A Truth Universally Acknowledged

by veronicahague



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Pride and Prejudice Fusion, F/M, Hate to Love, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-03-02 12:20:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13317972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/veronicahague/pseuds/veronicahague
Summary: “I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.”- Elizabeth Bennet"Rags to riches isn't a story anyone wants to hear until after it's done."- Adam ParrishThis is a modern day TRC Pride & Prejudice AU very, very loosely based on the original masterpiece by Jane Austen.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I spent my Christmas break reading Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, watching Death Comes to Pemberley and then *re-watching* the 2005 Pride and Prejudice for like the 12th time. Needless to say, I was inspired to write my own version.
> 
> This is very much an AU. Things are not going to align perfectly with the book (nor do I want them to - it's far less fun if you can predict every single twist and turn as they come).

 

“I’m just going to stay here and live in the corner of your room forever,” Blue says with a dramatic sigh as she collapses onto Adam’s bed.

He snorts from where he’s hunched over his desk, squinting at the memo that’d come in the mail from the prestigious Aglionby Academy.  Also known as his new school as of tomorrow at 8:15am sharp.

“What’d Orla do now?” he asks, reading over the dress code and anxiously searching his memory to make sure he hasn’t forgotten anything important.

“Not just Orla. Mom and Calla are being weird too.”

Blue’s words are just ominous enough to draw Adam’s attention away from the rules and regulations section of the Aglionby memo.

“How so?”

Blue rolls over and stares at the ceiling. Adam’s attic apartment is the size of a shoebox so she doesn’t have to look far to get an intimate view of the peeling paint covered wood of the room he calls home.

“They did a reading after breakfast and said there’s something big coming and that both of our lives are about to be flipped upside down.”

Adam can’t help the chill that runs down his spine.

“I mean, I am about to start a new school - “

“Abandoning me in the process,” Blue mutters, though her tone of voice makes it clear she’s joking. Mostly.

“ - So in a way both of our lives are about to change pretty drastically. Maybe that’s what they saw?”

Blue shrugs, unconvinced.

“And anyway,” Adam continues, “it’s not like we’ll never see each other. We both know I’ll be over at your place tomorrow for dinner.”

“Yeah, I guess. It’s just going to be so strange not having you there tomorrow. Mountainview was never going to be enough for you, I know that, but I’m going to miss having my best friend there.”

Adam gets up and joins Blue on the bed, slinging an arm around her shoulder.

“I’m not exactly looking forward to tomorrow either,” he says with far more honesty than he’d ever share with anyone else. “I’m the only student on scholarship; everyone else there was born with a golden spoon up their ass.”

Blue snorts. “If they don’t appreciate you then that’s their loss. You’re going to do great things, Adam, and they’ll only have themselves to blame for not recognizing it when they had the chance.”

Blue’s phone beeps with a text. “Noah says to tell you good luck tomorrow and also to get a cell phone so he can text you directly.”

Adam rolls his eyes. “I don’t need a cellphone. And besides, that’s an extra $35.00 a month I can put towards groceries or rent - ”

Blue claps a hand over his mouth. “I know. And he knows it too, much as he likes to tease you about it.”

Noah was the third friend in their tiny clique. They were so used to fighting against the world together and it was going to be particularly depressing to split up for the first time since they’d all become friends.

“I should get going,” Blue finally relents. “Unlike you, I haven’t even started my homework yet.”

She stands up and stares at Adam for a moment before pulling him into a hug. “Good luck. Not that you’ll need it. You’re going to grab that school by the balls.”

Adam snorts and hugs her back. It wasn’t until he’d met Blue that he’d even realized how much he’d missed by not having anyone in his life who freely gave him that kind of casual, affectionate touch without expectation.

“Goodnight, Blue,” he says, letting her go.

She grins at him and kicks the bottom of the door twice before opening it because the wood gets stuck otherwise.

“Night, Adam. Noah and I will be rooting for you from afar.”

Adam flashes her a grin and decides it’s probably time for him to get some rest, too.

Adam rarely dreams, or if he does, he doesn’t remember them, but that night he dreams about ravens.

 

***

 

Ironically the first thing he sees the next morning is, in fact, a raven. And not just the carved stone ravens decorating the exterior of Aglionby Academy, either, but a live one flying overhead as he makes his way into the intimidatingly large and prestigious front doors of his new school.

Adam’s brand-new navy blue uniform sports a large raven embroidered next to the school’s crest right over his heart.

Adam’s heart races as he steps into the marble-tiled hallway, already overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what he’s attempting. Boys like him – boys born to parents who spend every last dime on beer and gambling and cigarettes – don’t get to go to fancy private schools. Adam suddenly feels like he’s trying to breathe underwater. He staggers towards the bathroom, colliding with a fancy looking blonde-haired student exiting at the same time as he’s trying to get in.

“Whoa, dude, watch where you’re –” the guy starts, giving Adam a blatant once over. There’s something in his gaze that Adam can’t identify, but at least it doesn’t seem to be outright distaste. “You’re new,” he eventually finishes.

Adam nods.

“You know where you’re going?”

Adam shakes his head, not quite trusting his tongue to form words properly yet. He’s mostly gotten his heart rate under control but he still feels like he’s on the verge of spiraling.

“I can take you over to the office. I’m guessing that’s where you’re supposed to go …?”

Adam realizes he can’t put off speaking forever. He does his best to flatten his accent and wrangle it into something palatable for the rich boys he’s going to be stuck with for the next year.

“Yeah, I mean, yes, that’s right.”

The guy’s eyes narrow. “You got a name?”

“Adam Parrish.”

Tad gives him another appraising look. “I’m Tad. Carruthers, that is,” he tacks on, as if Adam is supposed to just _know_ the significance of that particular last name.

“Anyway,” he continues after it becomes clear Adam’s not going to fawn over the honour of meeting a member of the illustrious Carruthers clan, “it’s right down that hallway and around the corner. Just stick behind me, these hallways all look pretty identical.”

“Right,” Adam says. “Thanks.”

 

****

 

Adam’s first class of the day, it turns out, is English Lit. Not his favourite subject but it’s an opportunity to see how much of his studying over the summer has paid off. Adam had assumed that the required reading at Aglionby would be far more rigorously academic than what he’d been used to at Mountainview. His assumption proves to be correct.

He takes a seat at an unoccupied desk at the back of the room and surveys the reading list, pleasantly surprised to see he’s already familiar with more than half of the titles.

Their teacher, Mr. Woolens, mercifully does not drawn any attention to Adam’s presence as a new student and starts class as if it were any other day.

“If you’ll open your copies of The Scarlet Letter to page 245,” he begins before being cut off by the classroom door obnoxiously banging open with a disruptive thud.

Mr. Woolens looks over, eyebrows raised, and sighs when he catches sight of the intruders.

“Mr. Gansey and Mr. Lynch,” he says with a sigh. He turns to the boy closest to him, some wholesome, all-American looking charmer with wavy brown hair and the neatest uniform Adam’s seen all morning. “You know, I expect this of Mr. Lynch, Richard, but not you.”

The boy, evidently Richard, flushes sheepishly, but all it does is make him look even more charmingly contrite.

“My profoundest apologies, sir. My car broke down again on the way to school.”

The class lets out a collective snort and Adam’s surprised to see Mr. Woolens roll his eyes with fondness rather than irritation.

“Ah yes, I should have known the only thing that would ever make _you_ late is that ghastly car of yours.” He pauses, his eyes drifting over to the other, sullen-looking boy who’d entered the room with Richard.

With his shaved head, sharp cheekbones, and what appeared to be some kind of gigantic tattoo creeping over the sides of his neck, this ‘Lynch’ looked sorely out of place. If Adam had come across him on the street, he would have sooner assumed he was a gang member than a private school boy.

“Lynch, am I to assume you were also late because of Mr. Gansey’s car trouble?” Mr. Woolens asks, his smile dimming the longer he stares at him.

“No,” Lynch says, his voice simultaneously sharp and bored as he strolls into the classroom.

He stops next to Adam’s desk and stares at him. Adam, confused, stares back.

“Move,” Lynch says, kicking lightly at the leg of Adam’s chair.

“What?” Adam sputters out, too shocked to bother trying to conceal his accent.

“You’re in my seat,” Lynch repeats imperiously.

“Ronan,” the first boy, Richard, says chidingly.

Adam can’t believe this is happening. His only goal for the day had been to get through it without drawing any attention to himself and yet he’s already managed to attract the attention of one of the scariest students in the school.

“What, are you deaf?” Ronan asks, and whether he knows it or not, he’s definitely prodded at a very sore spot for Adam.

“You showed up late. I didn’t. Find another seat.” Adam can hardly believe the words coming out of his mouth, but he’s distantly proud of the arrogant bite he managed to imbue his voice with.

“Excuse me?” Ronan says with a growl.

Richard hurries over, placing a hand on Ronan’s upper arm as if to hold him back.

Adam refuses to break eye contact. “I know I’ve got an accent but I’m pretty sure you understood every word I just said.”

Ronan holds his gaze for another long and loaded moment and Adam can see the cogs turning in his brain. For a moment, he wonders if Ronan might actually try to fight him.

“Ronan,” Richard says again, and it finally seems to be enough to defuse the bomb that is Ronan Lynch.

“Whatever,” Ronan says, kicking the leg of Adam’s desk with more force before throwing himself into an empty seat on the other side of the room. Richard takes the seat next to him, shooting Adam an apologetic look.

“Well then,” Mr. Woolens says. “Can I get back to the lesson now or are there any other interruptions I should be expecting?”


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friendships develop. Tension Builds. Gansey puts his foot in his mouth.

The rest of the school day passes quickly and before Adam knows it, he’s on his bike and riding down the long, dusty road to Blue’s house.   
  
He’s only made it a block or two from Aglionby when he spots a hideously orange Camaro with the hood propped up by the side of the road.   
  
“Just call a fucking tow truck, Dick,” a bored voice drawls from somewhere behind the front end of the car.   
  
“I can fix this, I’m sure of it,” someone else replies, and Adam is disappointed to note that he already recognizes the voices.    
  
He considers biking past and just leaving them there – surely there’s enough money between the two of them to buy another dozen obnoxiously coloured cars – but he’s pretty sure he knows what’s wrong with the car.    
  
“Have you checked the fan belt?” Adam asks. Richard nearly bangs his head on the hood at the sound of Adam’s voice, but there’s a grin threatening to break out from beneath the look of befuddlement still plastered across his face.   
  
“Is that this thing?” Richard asks, gesturing to something that is decidedly  _ not _ the fan belt. 

Adam shakes his head, rolls up his sleeves, and gets to work.

“Try the engine,” he says a moment later, wiping his hands on the rag Richard hands him.   
  
Richard gestures to Lynch, who rolls his eyes but slips into the driver’s side and turns the key.   
  
The engine roars to life and Richard laughs in delight.   
  
“You’re a modern-day magician!”   
  
Adam can feel his cheeks getting red. “It’s nothing, really, I just know cars is all.”   
  
“What was your name again?” Richard asks. “I don’t believe I’ve had the honour of a proper introduction yet.”   
  
“Adam Parrish.”   
  
Richard grins. “Richard Gansey, but everybody calls me Gansey.”   
  
“Third in line after Dicks 1 and 2,” Lynch says from somewhere on Adam’s left side and Adam flinches, not having heard him approach. Gansey shoots Ronan a look; he either doesn’t notice Adam’s startled reaction or doesn’t comment on it.   
  
“Fine, yes, if we’re being technical it’s Richard Campbell Gansey  _ the third _ .” Gansey sighs. 

He doesn’t seem too bothered, though, as he walks over to Lynch and slings a brotherly arm over his shoulder a moment later. “And this is Ronan Lynch. I apologize in advance for his behaviour.”   
  
Ronan doesn’t react, just keeps staring at Adam with those intimidatingly blue eyes of his.   
  
“Well, I should be on my way... ” Adam says after an awkward moment of extended silence.   
  
“Oh, nonsense! At least let me give you a ride wherever you’re going.”    
  
Adam shakes his head. “No, really, it’s – ”   
  
“Please,” Gansey practically begs, and Adam suddenly understands why half of the school appears to be in love with him. There’s something so wholesome, so genuinely beseeching about the way he interacts with people that it’s damn near impossible for Adam to turn him down again. So he doesn’t.   
  
“Sure, yeah, that’d be nice.”   
  
Gansey grins and pops open the trunk of the car so Adam can put his bike in.   
  
Adam makes his way to the back seat but Ronan sticks an arm out, blocking him from getting inside.   
  
“Don’t wait up for me tonight,” he says to Gansey.   
  
Before either Gansey or Adam can respond, a souped up Mitsubishi with knives painted along the side of the door screeches to a halt next to them.   
  
“Hey fuckface, you coming or what?” a hard-edged voice calls from the driver’s side.   
  
“Keep your panties on, K,” Ronan shoots back as he gets into the Mitsubishi and slams the passenger seat door behind him.   
  
The car speeds off before Adam or Gansey can react.   
  
Gansey laughs but Adam can hear the shades of discomfort in it. Adam gets into the passenger seat and clips on his seatbelt.   
  
“Ronan is … a bit of an acquired taste,” Gansey says, slipping his own seatbelt on.   
  
“You don’t need to justify your friends to me,” Adam replies, and Gansey coughs.   
  
“That’s not what I meant. I just wanted you to know. Because of the whole thing this morning.”   
  
Adam nods. “Right.”   
  
“So where am I taking you?” Gansey asks, his voice back to being pleasantly polite.   
  
“Uh, the other side of Henrietta. Do you know where Fox Way is?”   
  
Gansey shakes his head. “No, but it sounds delightful.”   
  
“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Adam mumbles in response. 

As grateful as he is for the ride, he’s not particularly excited about the third degree his new friend ( _ is _ he even a new friend, or is Adam just desperate for companionship?) is about to get from Blue and the rest of her family.   
  


***   


  
“It’s the next right, the one with the – ”    
  
Predictably, Gansey gasps before Adam can finish his sentence.   
  
“Yeah, that one.”   
  
300 Fox Way would stand out on just about any rural Virginia street, but it’s particularly glaring when contrasted with the cookie-cutter, lower middle-class, one-family houses populating the rest of the street.   
  
Even without the giant, “Psychic” sign in the window, the eccentric porch decorations and overgrown trees and shrubs sprawling lazily all over the property make the house hard to miss.   
  
“You live here?” Gansey asks, not bothering to hide his curiosity. There’s something deeper than that, too, though, something that stops Adam from being offended on Blue’s behalf. It sounds like Gansey is genuinely delighted by the house and by the prospect of knowing someone living inside of it.   
  
“Not me. My best friend – ”   
  
And for the second time in as many minutes, Adam finds himself cut off by Gansey gaping at something on Blue’s property.   
  
This time it seems to be Blue herself.   
  
She strolls over to Gansey’s car, eyebrow raised, and stops outside the passenger door, waiting for Adam to roll down the window.   
  
“You’re early,” she says, giving him, the car, and the car’s driver a cursory once over. “And looking fancier than usual.”   
  
Uncertain if Blue’s referring to the uniform, the car, or the Gansey (or more likely – all three) Adam presses his lips into a tight smile.   
  
“I got a ride,” Adam says, stating the obvious. 

He turns to his new acquaintance. “Gansey, this is my best friend, Blue. Blue, this is Gansey.”  
  
Gansey continues gaping at Blue as though she’s some rare specimen on the nature channel. He snaps out of it after a moment, clearly unable to suppress the years of etiquette training and good breeding drilled into him by the elder Ganseys.  
  
“Delighted to make your acquaintance,” he finally says, sounding warmer than Adam had expected. Maybe this won’t be a total trainwreck. Blue even looks like she’s about to crack a smile in response.  
  
Naturally, Gansey immediately has to ruin it.  
  
“That’s not your real name, is it?”   
  
Adam resists the urge to face palm.  
  
“Excuse me?” Blue asks, her own tone considerably more frigid than it had been a moment before.  
  
“Oh, I just mean,” Gansey starts to stutter-babble, which surely will not end well. “Blue’s hardly an actual name. Something sensible like _Jane_ , on the other hand - ”  
  
“What, as if _Gansey_ is any better?” Blue shoots back.  
  
“Well, no, actually, it’s Richard, I just go by my last – ” Gansey begins and Adam gets out of the car as quickly as he can, taking care not to slam the door behind him too forcefully.  
  
“Thanks for the ride, Gansey! See you tomorrow.” Adam tries to inject his voice with as much levity as he can, sensing the bloodbath that’s likely to break out if Gansey doesn’t drive away immediately.  
  
“Oh, right, of course. Goodbye, Adam. Thank you again for your help.” Gansey nods diplomatically at him before taking off. Adam’s pretty sure the obnoxious rumbling sound coming from the engine is a sign that Gansey’s carburetor is about to break, but that’s a problem for another day.  
  
“So, he’s terrible,” Blue says with a scowl as soon as he’s gone.  
  
Adam wraps an arm around Blue’s shoulders as they walk up the steps towards her house.  
  
“He’s just …”  
  
“Rich?” Blue asks with a sneer.  
  
“I was going to go with sheltered but sure, that too.”  
  
“I hope I don’t hate all of your new friends. That’s going to make weekend plans tricky.”  
  
Adam snorts. “You caught Gansey in a bad moment. He’s not that bad usually, I promise.” He pauses. “And besides, I met another guy I think you might like.”  
  
“Is his name as stupid as Gansey’s?” Blue asks, and Adam bites back the comment on the tip of his tongue about hypocrisy.  
  
“Worse. It’s Tad Carruthers.”  
  
Blue’s outraged laughter is more than enough to make up for Gansey’s gaffe earlier.   
  
Adam feels eyes on him and looks up to see Blue’s aunt Persephone watching him through the window. There’s something thoughtful in her eyes, like she can see more than she’s letting on.  
  
He looks away, uncomfortable, and by the time he looks up again, she’s gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there's one part of this fic I'm proud of so far, it's the super meta Jane reference towards the end.
> 
> My goal is to finish (and by finish I mean start) writing chapter 4 in the next couple of days so I can post chapter 3 a bit sooner as it's definitely my favourite so far.
> 
> I'd love to know your thoughts about what's happened so far and theories about what's coming! 
> 
> The first two chapters were really about establishing the world and introducing the key players. Now the fun is really going to begin ...


	3. Chapter Three

“Guys, I haven’t seen Adam in like a week, this is profoundly unfair,” Noah whines over speakerphone.

Adam had come over to hang out at Blue’s after they’d both finished work (Adam at Boyd’s mechanic shop and Blue at Nino’s, the local pizza parlour.) They hadn’t deliberately left Noah out but he lived on the other side of town and hated driving so it was rare for him to make it over to Fox Way unless he was in the mood for a solid 45 minutes of skateboarding.

Blue shoots Adam a _look_.

“Noah’s right you know. Now that you’re off at that fancy school of yours Noah’s been seriously Parrish-deprived.”

Adam sits up from where he’d been slouched on the couch and leans over the phone.

“How’s this, Noah. For once, I don’t have a shift after school tomorrow. Why don’t we meet up at Nino’s and hang for a bit until Blue’s done working and then we can go see a movie or something.”

Noah’s immediate glee is palpable. He claps excitedly on the other end of the phone.

Blue is less pleased.

“I hate when you guys hang out at my place of work while I actually have to work. How would you feel if Noah and I were practicing kick flips in Boyd’s parking lot while you’re stuck doing oil changes?”

“It’d suck, but I’d also understand if it was a means to an end and the _only_ opportunity to see two of my best friends at the same time after a long separation - ”

“Very long!” Noah chimes in.

“It’d be worth it,” Adam finishes. Noah doesn’t even need to be in the same room as them for his puppy dog eyes to work their magic.

Blue relents with a sigh. “Fine, but you guys better tip me well.”

Noah cheers and Adam grins. “I’ll even order more than just a soda this time.”

 

***

 

“Okay, my shift is over in like 45 minutes. Just order something and hang out and then we can go do something that doesn’t involve me taking orders from entitled private school boys.”

Noah grins and pats Blue on the head. “Thank you.”

She rolls her eyes but Adam still catches the flicker of a smile. “You’re lucky I like you both as much as I do.”

She ties her apron around her waist as the bell chimes over the door and goes to greet the party who just walked in.

“So Adam,” Noah begins, but Adam never ends up finding out where the rest of the sentence is going because he’s cut off by the sound of a glass shattering in the middle of the restaurant.

They both look over to see Blue glaring at a very sheepish Gansey and a bored looking Ronan Lynch.

“Uh oh,” Noah mutters, and Adam can’t help but agree with the sentiment. He debates going over to intervene but before he can even come to a decision Gansey spots him.

“Adam! Fancy meeting you here.” Gansey strolls over, his boat shoes artfully avoiding the broken bits of glass from the cup that must have been accidentally knocked over when Blue had first spotted him.

Ronan gives Adam and Noah a long, blank look before turning on his heel and heading back outside towards his car. Adam fights back the rage that simmers inside of him at being dismissed so easily.

“Who’s this?” Gansey asks when he reaches their table, manners impeccable as always.

“Noah Czerny,” Noah says, sticking a hand out for Gansey to shake.

Gansey grins. “Any friend of Adam’s is a friend of mine.”

“It’s a shame the reverse doesn’t appear to be true,” Adam mutters, his eyes still on Ronan sitting alone in his car out in the parking lot.

Gansey’s expression appears pained for a moment but he quickly brushes it off. “Ronan is ... Ronan. He’s not the most sociable but he has plenty of other virtues to make up for it.”

“I’ll have to take your word for that.”

“Two cokes and a pepperoni pizza,” Blue says as she slams their food and drinks down onto the table, startling Gansey.

“Ah, Blue, while I have you - ” Gansey says, and the look Blue gives him in response could freeze over hell.Gansey continues, seemingly unperturbed. “I think we got off on the wrong foot the other day and I just wanted to apologize.”

“For what?” she asks, tone even.

“I beg your pardon?”

“For what, _specifically_ , are you apologizing for?” Blue repeats impatiently.

“Oh, I don’t - ”

“Because I have no interest in a generic apology that’s only intended to smooth things over so _you_ don’t have to deal with the discomfort of interacting with me.”

Noah’s mouth drops open. Adam suppresses his grin.

Gansey continues to gape at her, clearly unused to any kind of back talk.

Blue nods to herself. “That’s what I thought. Give me a real apology for the actual rude thing you did and then we’ll talk. But until then,” she grabs a dirty plate off of the table next to where Noah and Adam are sitting, “I’m working. Get out of my way.”

Gansey takes a step back, speechless.

“Well, it was nice running into you, Gansey.” Adam says with a sympathetic smile.

Gansey blinks. “Right.”

Noah takes pity on him. “Did you come here for any particular reason?”

Gansey blinks again, breaking his hundred yard stare and focusing on Noah.

“I’d ordered a pizza over the phone and came to pick it up ...” he trails off.

“Did you pay already?” Adam asks.

Gansey nods.

“Then they’ve probably got it sitting on the counter by the kitchen, just over there.” Adam points to the counter where there is indeed a freshly boxed pizza with a receipt stuck to the top of it.

Gansey smiles his thanks at Adam but it’s clear he’s still a bit distracted. Adam’s not surprised. An encounter with Blue can leave that kind of impression on an unsuspecting person.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Gansey exclaims, finally snapping out of it. “I’m hosting a party this weekend. I’d love it if both of you came.” He pauses. “And Blue, of course, should she want to.”

Noah lights up like a Christmas tree. “An Aglionby party?”

“Well, it’s only an Aglionby party in so much as I go to Aglionby and will be hosting it.”

“We’d love to come!” Noah says with a grin. “Isn’t that right, Adam?” This time his grin is far more pointed.

Adam knows when to give in. “Sure, Gansey, sounds great. Where is it exactly?”

Gansey smiles. “At Monmouth Manufacturing. The old factory down on Main Street? I’ve converted it into a loft.”

Adam can already picture Blue recoiling. He forces down the ‘oh, rich people’ comment on the tip of his tongue and smiles pleasantly back at Gansey.

“You can give me the exact date and time at school tomorrow.”

Gansey nods amiably and starts walking towards the door.

“Don’t forget your pizza!” Adam and Noah cry out simultaneously.

Gansey pauses by the door and shoots them both a look of gratitude.

They both watch Gansey walk his pizza out to Ronan’s car, a charcoal grey BMW that looks like it costs more than Adam’s tuition and Blue’s house combined.

“So, should you break the news about the party to Blue or should I?” Noah asks, his eyes wide and full of dread.

“You’re the one who wants to go so badly, you can do it,” Adam says.

Noah swallows audibly.

 

***

 

As expected, Blue is less than thrilled by the turn of events. 

“Adam, I know he’s your friend, but he’s an asshole.”

“Blue - ”

“No, seriously, I spend enough time being forced to cater to the whims of Aglionby boys at work. I don’t want to have to deal with them in my off time too,” Blue says, her voice only holding a hint of petulance.

“Okay, that’s fine. I don’t want to make you feel like you have to come if you’re just going to be uncomfortable.”

Blue smiles, pleased.

“Noah and I will just tell you all about it afterwards.' 

Blue’s face drops.

“Come on, Blue, there’s no way I can stop Noah from going to that party,” Adam says. “It’s the most excited he’s been about a social event in a really long time.”

Blue lightly kicks at the tire of Adam’s bike in the Nino’s parking lot.

“I hate this,” Blue grumbles.

“I know,” Adam agrees. “But this time it’s not about you. You can come or you can stay home, I don’t care either way, but Noah and I will be there.”

“Fine.”

“ _Fine_ what?” Adam asks.

“Fine, I’ll come to the stupid party,” Blue acquiesces.

Adam grins.

“You hear that Noah? Blue’s coming too.”

There’s a whoop and a holler from the doorway as Noah makes his way outside, a piece of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

“It’ll be fun, Blue!” Noah beams at her.

“And if it’s not,” Adam continues for him, “then at least you can look forward to mocking the crap out of every single spoiled rich boy in attendance after the fact.”

Blue’s eyes light up, considering. “You make a good point.”

 

***

 

Adam manages to survive an entire week at Aglionby with minimal set-backs, but there’s something about Friday that seems to pass even more slowly than the entire week that had preceded it.

Finally, it’s fourth period and Adam is sitting next to Tad Carruthers in the library. 

“You had one of these at your old school, right?” Tad asks him, holding out a piece of plastic with a raven printed onto the back of.

“A library card? Yes, Tad, Mountainview may not be the Ritz but we could still afford books.”

Tad smiles blandly. “You never know with public schools.” He turns the desktop monitor towards Adam before he can even react.

“Enter your full name here, your school ID number here, and then a four digit pin code there.”

Adam squints at the screen and starts typing, slowly and methodically, the way someone who doesn’t own their own computer and only occasionally has access to them at school or at their friends’ houses does.

“So I heard you and Gansey are friends now or whatever,” Tad remarks, faux-casually leaning back in his chair.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sort of, I guess,” Adam distractedly agrees, trying to hurry the process up so he can go home and take a nap before his shift later that evening.

“He invited you to his little gathering tomorrow night, didn’t he? He doesn’t invite just anyone, you know.” Tad’s voice is hollow and just bitter enough to jar Adam out of his intense concentration.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you tagging along with me and my friends if you wanted to, Tad. Gansey seems pretty chill about that kind of stuff.” Truth be told, Adam likes Tad well enough but doesn’t particularly want to imagine Blue being forced to tolerate his presence for an entire evening.

“No, no. Lynch would never agree to that. He still hates me.” Tad sighs, resigned.

It’s the ‘still’ that holds Adam’s attention. “Did something happen?”

Tad runs a hand through his already artfully messy hair. “He blames me for his brother getting expelled.”

Adam’s hand hovers over the keyboard for a moment as he processes what Tad just said. He turns around to face him head on, computer temporarily forgotten.

“You got his brother expelled?” Adam asks with as neutral a tone of voice as he can manage.

Tad shakes his head. “No, of course not. His brother got himself expelled all on his own. Lynch just blames me for how it played out.”

As fun as the cryptic clues are, Adam is rapidly tiring of the verbal games.

“What happened, exactly? In 100 words or less, preferably.”

Tad sighs again and sinks down in his chair.

“You’ve met, Lynch. It’s obvious he’s fucked up. And it’s not hard to see why after he found his dad dead in the driveway a couple of years ago.”

It’s the way Tad says this with complete nonchalance that turns Adam’s stomach the most.

He’d had no idea Ronan had been through something so devastating, so completely traumatic that it was easy to see why he acted the way he did.

“Anyway,” Tad continues, “turns out his younger brother was pretty fucked up by it too. But rather than turning to booze and drag racing like his older brother, he discovered the magical world of drugs.”

Adam’s stomach drops. He can guess where this is going.

“So, one of my good friends works in the admin office for extra credit. He tells me there’s going to be a random drug search in the school because people have caught onto the fact that someone’s been dealing to the students. That someone, of course, is Lynch’s younger brother, Matthew.”

“So, why does Ronan blame you?” Adam asks.

“Because I didn’t give him or his brother a heads up about the locker searches. Like it’s somehow _my_ responsibility to keep the delinquent and his kid brother out of trouble.”

Tad shrugs, a casual ‘what are you going to do about it?’ gesture that seems so completely at odds with what he’s just told Adam.

“Kid brother? How old was he when this happened?” Adam asks, feeling sick.

“Lynch was 16 so Matthew must have been like 14 or something? I don’t know, after he got expelled he went to live with their older brother in DC. No one’s really heard much about him since.”

“Jesus,” Adam chokes out before he can stop himself.

Tad shrugs again. “I told Lynch I was just trying to do the right thing and that his brother needed to learn that actions have consequences but he still holds it against me. I try to be the bigger person but it’s not always easy. Especially when Gansey has these little get togethers I’m not ever invited to.”

Adam swallows down the bile crawling up his throat. He turns back to the computer, scans the form to make sure he hasn’t forgotten anything and hits ‘submit’.

“That’s it, right?” he asks, hoping his voice sounds steadier than he feels.

Tad blinks in confusion. “Oh, with the library card? Yeah, they’ll call you over to the office when it’s ready.”

“Great,” Adam says, getting out of the chair and swinging his backpack over his shoulders as quickly as he can. “See you later, Tad.”

“Um, sure. Later, Parrish.” Tad says, his eyebrows furrowed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaand enter the dramatic Lynch family back story. This was my favourite chapter to write (so far).
> 
> Thanks for reading. As always, I love to hear theories and plot speculation ;)


	4. Chapter Four

“... oh my God,” Blue mutters. Adam can’t blame her. “He legitimately lives in a refurbished factory. Like, that wasn’t an exaggeration.”

Next to them, Noah fist pumps. “This is going to be awesome!”

Blue and Adam exchange a look before the three of them head inside.

 

***

 

“Adam!” Gansey exclaims excitedly over the thumping music when he sees they’ve arrived. He’d told Adam ahead of time to just enter through the main door and head up the stairs to the loft on the upper floor. Never before had Adam been so grateful for Blue and Noah; the thought of walking into whatever was going on behind Gansey without backup would have given him significant pause.

Gansey steps aside and invites them in with a broad, sweeping hand gesture. 

Adam’s not sure what he’d been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t a table covered in a mixture of posh-looking hors d’oeuvres and, on the other end of the spectrum, deep fried mars bars and potato chips.

There’s a respectable group of people gathered, maybe 10 or 15 people, but Gansey was certainly true to his word that this wouldn’t be a rager. Adam scans the room, looking for anyone familiar, but aside from Gansey himself and one guy with patchy facial hair who Adam thinks might be in his English class, he comes up empty.

“Is that a cardboard town?” Noah asks, peering around the room curiously and landing on what appears to be a landscape created entirely out of cereal boxes.

Gansey’s face lights up. “Would you like to take a tour of miniature Henrietta?”

And just like that, Adam and Blue are alone. 

“You don’t mind if I drink, do you?” Blue asks him, gesturing to the impromptu bar set up next to the gigantic flat screen TV bolted to the wall. “I don’t think I’ll be able to survive the night otherwise.”

Adam snorts. “Yeah, go for it. I’m going to find the bathroom.”

Blue salutes him before pouring herself a gigantic glass of what looks like mystery punch.

Adam walks towards one of the two closed doors on the opposite side of the room. He hasn’t seen a kitchen yet, which is concerning, but he’s also noticed that Gansey’s bed is located right in the centre of the room so it’s possible the kitchen is where the bedroom is supposed to be.

He pauses outside one of the two closed doors, feeling like Alice in Wonderland. 

He picks a door at random and is about to knock when it bursts open, revealing a pissed off looking Ronan Lynch. Adam’s hand hovers awkwardly in the air between them.

“What?” Ronan demands gruffly.

Adam lowers his hand.

“Bathroom?” he asks, hoping his tone hides his embarrassment.

“Other door,” Ronan says, monotone, before pushing past him and slamming his own door behind him.

And before Adam even has a chance to process what just happened, he’s gone.

“Okay then,” Adam mutters to himself, pushing the other door open.

There’s a guy hurling violently into the toilet.

There also appears to be a fridge, an oven, and a microwave pushed against the wall opposite the toilet.

Adam turns right back around and firmly closes the door.

In the 2 minutes since he’s attempted to find the bathroom, the party seems to have doubled in size. There’s finally a couple of faces that Adam vaguely recognizes. 

Adam wanders back into the crowd, scanning the room for Blue. 

“Adam!” someone cries out, and he turns to see Noah with a beer in one hand a giant smile across his face. 

“Hey Noah,” Adam replies with a grin. “You enjoying yourself?”

Noah nods aggressively. “You didn’t tell me Gansey was so cool. Did you know he used to live in Europe?”

Before Adam can respond, there’s a pair of hands grabbing his arm. He whirls around to see Blue with wide eyes and a dark red wine stain on her (white) dress.

“He SPILLED on me, that asshole!”

Gansey staggers over a second later. “It was an accident, I promise!”

Blue whirls on him. “I don’t care if you meant for it to happen or not. I spent all day working on this dress and now it looks like I murdered someone.”

Gansey looks frantically around the room, as if hoping it’ll force the right response to materialize in front of him.

“I’ll buy you a new one,” he begins, and Adam groans. 

“ _ You’ll buy me a new one _ ?” Blue questions, her already indignant tone growing angrier by the second. “I made this myself, dickhead. You can’t just fix the problem by throwing money at it.”

“What can I do?” Gansey asks, voice desperate.

“You can leave me alone!” Blue says, storming off. Or intending to storm off, anyhow. A slow gasp echoes throughout the room as Blue slips on a puddle of spilled beer and falls dramatically to the ground.

Adam cautiously steps forward, extending a hand. Blue swats him away. 

“I’m fine. And  _ you _ of all people should know how much I hate the stupid damsel in distress thing,” Blue spits out, eyes stormy.

She tries to push herself back up into a standing position and instantly drops back to the ground clutching her ankle.

Adam won’t let her push him away this time. “Are you okay?”

Blue sighs. “I think I hurt my ankle.”

Gansey cautiously approaches, his face a rich shade of crimson. “I’m sorry for spilling on you and ruining your outfit, Blue, truly.”

Blue rolls her eyes. “Ugh, whatever. Just take me somewhere that’s not covered in beer.”

Adam and Gansey exchange a look before each grabbing one of Blue’s arms and gingerly helping her over to the couch.

“You want a glass of water or something?” Adam asks once she’s seated with her ankle elevated and resting on the coffee table. 

Blue shakes her head. “I think this calls for vodka.”

Adam snorts and goes to pour her a shot over at the bar.

“ - badly, huh?”

Adam turns, confused, and sees a guy he vaguely recognizes from Aglionby’s student council. Henry something-or-other.

“Sorry, can you say that again? I can’t really hear out of this ear,” Adam says, pointing to his deaf ear.

The guy - Henry - nods, and to Adam’s intense relief, doesn’t ask what happened to make him deaf.

“I was just saying it’s a shame your friend hurt herself. Gansey’s parties are usually pretty chill.”

Adam snorts and searches the table for something to mix the vodka with. 

He’s startled when a hand and wrist with black leather bands wrapped around it shoves a gigantic bottle of ginger ale at him. 

Adam looks up to see the hand belongs to Ronan Lynch.

“Uh, thanks,” he says, taking the ginger ale. 

Ronan just stares at him before stalking off to his room again.

Henry snorts beside him. “Wow, that was downright friendly by Lynch standards.”

“What’s his deal, anyway?” Adam asks before he can stop himself.

Ronan emerges from his room again a second later wearing a beat-up leather jacket. 

His cellphone is pressed to his ear, though Ronan doesn’t look particularly happy about it. “I’m fucking coming, K, Jesus.”

He hangs up rather  violently (though Adam supposes everything Ronan Lynch does seems rather violent) and storms outside, slamming the door to Monmouth shut behind him.

“His dad was murdered. Ronan’s the one who found the body.”

Adam abruptly turns back to Henry. Tad had left out the part about Ronan’s dad being  _ murdered _ .

Henry shrugs. “You asked what his deal is. That’s basically it. His dad died in really violent and terrible way and he’s been struggling to deal with it ever since.”

“Who’s K?”

Henry groans. “Joseph Kavinsky. Son of a bulgarian mobster or something like that. He’s the only person at school more fucked up than Ronan.”

He pauses, looking around the room before leaning closer to Adam. “No one really knows if they’re fuck buddies or if they just enjoy hurting each other or what, but it’s a super dysfunctional relationship. Gansey tries not to let it show but you can tell he worries about Kavinsky’s influence on Ronan.”

Adam frowns. “How did he and Gansey even become friends in the first place?”

“They met before Ronan’s dad died. Guess he was less sharp around the edges back then.”

 

***

 

By the time Adam’s wrapped his conversation up with Henry and made his way back over to Blue, she’s already a few drinks deep and giggling at something Gansey is saying.

Adam’s brain performs a mental record scratch.

“Uh, hey guys.” He hands the vodka soda to Blue.

“Adam, tell Gansey that he’s privileged.”

Adam frowns. “Pretty sure he knows that already.”

Blue jerks Adam to sit on the sofa next to her. “No, I mean tell him that as a straight able bodied white male, he has certain advantages that other people don’t and he needs to factor that privilege in before commenting on social justice issues.”

Adam looks between Blue and Gansey, who are sitting much closer to each other than they were fifteen minutes ago, and shrugs.

“I think you said it better than I ever could.”

“I am sorry, you know.” Gansey says suddenly.

Adam and Blue both turn to stare at him.

“I insulted your name. When we first met. That was incredibly rude of me. Jane may be a more traditional name but it’s also considerably more dull. Blue is a lovely name, really.”

Blue gives Gansey a considering smile. “Thanks, Gansey.” She pauses. “Which, for the record, is still a weird name but is definitely better than Dick.”

Gansey grimaces. Adam takes that as his cue to leave.

“Have you seen Noah?” he asks, getting up and scanning the crowd.

“I think I saw him head outside a minute or so ago,” Gansey says, pointing helpfully towards the door.

 

***

 

After doing a cursory search of the main floor of Monmouth and not seeing anyone, Adam leans against the wall and sinks slowly to the ground, taking a moment for himself away from the noise and the bodies upstairs.

His ear is ringing a little bit and he tries to push the burgeoning worry away. Ever since losing the hearing in his other ear, he’s started having nightmares about going completely deaf. 

Before he can let himself become too consumed with paranoia, he’s distracted by a loud bang.

“...Noah?” Adam calls out, cautiously walking towards the main door.

He hears another bang followed by a shout and walks faster, shoving the main door open and emerging in the parking lot.

Noah is laughing hysterically while Henry lies spread eagled on the asphalt, groaning. A skateboard rolls dejectedly away from him.

“Um,” Adam begins to say. Noah starts laughing even harder.

“Adam, hey,” Henry greets him, waving from his spot on the ground.

“Everything okay?”

“Peachy,” Henry says, a jovial smile on his face.

Noah steps forward, still grinning, and holds a hand out to Henry.

“We were getting to know each other and Henry said he had a skateboard but he’d never actually learned how to ride it. I was just trying to teach him some of the basics.”

“ _ Trying _ being the operative word,” Henry grumbles, brushing his hands off on the legs of his jeans as he stands up next to Noah. The two exchange a quick smile, and Adam suddenly feels like he’s intruding on something.

“Cool, well, have fun. Try not to break anything. One injured ankle at this party is more than enough.”

Noah snorts and Henry sighs. “I’ll do my best.”

 

***

 

By the time Adam heads back inside, the party is starting to wind down. Someone’s turned the music off (a fact Adam is very grateful for) and the mood inside has shifted.

He pushes his way past the people gathered at the door and scans the room for Blue. 

“Adam,” Gansey calls out, voice low, and Adam looks over to see that Blue’s fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder.

The look on his face as he looks at her is soft, like he’s been blessed with something very precious and unexpected. 

Adam feels like he’s intruding on something private for the second time that night.

“She’s going to be grumpy if we wake her up,” Adam finally says, drawing on years of personal experience as he watches his best friend sleep.

“I don’t mind letting her sleep a bit longer,” Gansey replies, and there’s a gentleness in his voice that Adam’s never heard before.

_ Benny and the Jets _ starts blaring from the coffee table and Blue jerks awake, looking around the room wildly.

Gansey curses and grabs his cellphone, quickly staring at the caller ID and immediately hitting silence on the call before tucking it into his pocket.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Blue asks with a grumble. Gansey looks even more endeared.

“You looked like you needed the rest,” Gansey says and Adam braces himself for what’s sure to be a scathing response from Blue in response.

She surprises Adam by narrowing her eyes and refraining from commenting on Gansey’s chronic case of foot in mouth disease.

“Did you need to take that call? Adam and I can give you some privacy.”

Gansey shakes his head. “No, it’s fine. Just my sister. She’s coming to visit in a few days, probably calling to make sure I’m prepared to accommodate her properly.” Gansey doesn’t actually roll his eyes but his tone of voice does the job for him.

Blue snorts and looks at Adam. “We should probably head out anyhow.”

Adam nods. “Noah’s outside already. We can meet him downstairs.”

Gansey looks like he wants to say something more but before he can,  _ Benny and the Jets _ starts blaring out of his pants. He sighs, pulling his phone out of his pocket and checking the caller ID again. This time he answers immediately.

“Ronan?”

Adam can hear a low voice on the other end. He can’t quite make out what Ronan is saying but Gansey’s facial expressions tell him enough. 

“Just be careful.  _ Please _ . I can’t bail you out again if this goes badly, Ronan, you know that - ”

The conversation ends abruptly as Ronan hangs up on Gansey. Gansey stares at the ceiling, not saying anything for a long moment before pulling on his ‘polite host’ facade and directing his attention back towards Adam and Blue.

“Thank you both for coming. It’s always nice to get to know new people.” He directs that second part at Blue. 

They both stare at each for a moment and Adam wonders if it’s always this easy to tell when the ‘before’ is on its way to becoming the ‘after’.

Adam’s never put too much stock in the psychic abilities of the women of Fox Way but it seems this time they were right. Blue’s life, at least, really does seem like it’s in the process of being flipped upside down.    


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gansey being a massive elton john fan is basically canon imo
> 
> okay so i promise we'll get more of ronan and adam interacting next chapter. the dramatic tension is just going to keep steadily ticking up and up and up until we hit the top of the roller coaster annnnnnnnd
> 
> thanks for reading! comments and kudos are always very much appreciated (and it's fun to see what you guys think is going to happen as the story progresses.)


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the slow burn really starts to produce some heat ...

Adam would kick himself if he wasn’t already pedaling to school as fast as his legs can carry him. He’d spent the rest of the weekend after Gansey’s party working double shifts at both Boyd’s and the factory to try and earn some extra money to help offset the cost of his Aglionby tuition, and his exhaustion the night before had resulted in him forgetting to set his alarm.

Adam cannot afford to be late. He can’t afford to miss even a second of class now that he’s finally gotten himself on the path that will eventually lead to the college of his dreams.

In fact, Adam is so distracted by the thought of his future path that he forgets to look at the one he’s currently biking on. His front wheel hits a dip in the road and his bike jerks abruptly to the left, throwing Adam to the ground.

Adam is most definitely going to miss all of first period.

He pulls himself up, wincing at the tear in his uniform pants over his right knee. He only has this one pair and he can’t afford to buy another one yet. 

He picks up his bike and is in the process of inspecting the front wheel to make sure it hasn’t been permanently damaged when a car pulls up beside him and the entire lower half of Adam’s body is hit with a wall of dirty water.

“Hey loser!” someone calls out. Adam’s gaze moves up from the puddle that’d splashed him and over to the driver of the car responsible for said splashing to see Joseph Kavinsky and some guy sitting in the passenger next to him laughing hysterically.

“Hope you’ve got a spare set of clothes in your locker,” the guy in the passenger seat hollers.

Kavinsky throws a single napkin at Adam out the window with a smirk. “See you at school, princess.”

He rolls the window up and speeds off again and Adam is filled with the kind of rage he hasn’t experienced since becoming emancipated and moving out of his parents’ trailer.

He checks his watch, a beaten up old thing he’d gotten second hand and that must be nearly as old as he is, and sighs. He’s not even sure there’s a point in trying to get to school at all today. Maybe Gansey will lend him his notes.

He sits down by the side of the road and rests his face in his hands, indulging in a brief moment of self-pity.

The sound of an engine fills the air. He flinches as a car door opens somewhere to his right and schools his face into a blank expression, preparing to brush off whatever well-intentioned person stops to ask what’s wrong.

“Fuck,” a strangely familiar voice says, and Adam finds himself taken completely by surprise for the second time that morning.

Ronan Lynch looks angry, which Adam has learned is basically his default state, but there’s also something else in his expression that he can’t identify. It’s not pity - Adam’s an expert at recognizing that one by now - but it’s not cruel either.

“Yeah,” Adam agrees, not bothering to mask his irritation. He fully expects Ronan to get back in his car and drive away again, which is why it takes him a split second to react when Ronan starts loading Adam’s bike into the trunk of his car.

“What are you doing?”

Ronan looks at him like he’s an idiot and slams the trunk shut before making his way over to the driver’s seat.

“I don’t need your help,” Adam protests, albeit weakly, and once again Ronan doesn’t bother responding.

Adam gets in the passenger seat.

 

***

 

“Aren’t you going to ask what happened?” Adam finally says when they’ve been driving for a couple of minutes and it’s clear Ronan has no intention of filling the silence.

“Your bike broke and you were stranded by the side of the road. There’s nothing to ask,” Ronan responds, voice flat.

Adam resists the urge to roll his eyes. “So why’d you bother helping me at all, then, Mister Too-Cool-For-Manners?”

Ronan shrugs and says, “Gansey.”

“You realize that’s not actually an answer,” Adam replies, eagerly counting down the seconds until he’s out of this car.

“I don’t do small talk,” Ronan finally says after another painfully long silence. Adam does roll his eyes this time.

Ronan mutters something under his breath and Adam just manages to catch the tail end of the words _ hypocrite _ and  _ manners _ .

“I didn’t ask you to give me a ride. Just let me out here if it’s putting such a strain on what I’m sure is a  _ very _ busy schedule.”

Ronan slams his foot on the pedal and just starts driving faster. 

The lower half of Adam’s pants feel uncomfortably damp against his skin as he realizes Ronan giving him a ride has only solved one of his problems. 

Ronan, who’s either a long lost member of Fox Way or just weirdly attuned to Adam, gestures to the back seat.

“I have an extra pair of pants.”

Adam feels his cheeks heat up. “They’re not going to fit me.”

Ronan keeps staring straight ahead and doesn’t respond.

Adam sighs. “Thank you. I guess pants that are too big but dry are better than the alternative.”

“Whatever,” is Ronan’s eloquent reply. 

The silence returns for the rest of the ride but it feels less strained now. Adam also has the strange feeling that he understands Ronan better now than he did 15 minutes ago; despite Ronan invoking Gansey’s name as justification, not everyone would have stopped and so thoroughly helped a friend of a friend who was stranded by the side of the road.

He grabs the spare pair of pants from the back seat as he gets out of the car in the Aglionby parking lot

“Thanks again for the -,” he starts to say, but Ronan just walks off and leaves him standing there without any kind of acknowledgment. 

Adam’s eye sockets are getting quite the workout today as he rolls his eyes yet again.

He checks his watch to see how bad the damage is and is stunned to see that he’s not actually late yet. In fact, he still has 5 minutes to change into dry pants and get to class before he’s considered tardy.

It’s not until he’s walking through the front doors of the school that he realizes he left his bike in the trunk of Ronan’s car.

 

***

 

Adam walks into first period English Lit expecting to see Ronan and wondering absently how to avoid making it awkward. Technically he has nothing to be embarrassed about, but he rarely lets people see him in a position of vulnerability. And by Adam’s standards, Ronan finding him covered in muddy water by the side of the road at the ass crack of dawn definitely qualifies as vulnerable.

“Adam!” 

He looks over to see Gansey sitting in the front row and gesturing to the empty desk next to him.

“Everything okay? You look a bit peaky.”

Adam resists the now alarmingly familiar gesture to roll his eyes at Gansey’s mothering and nods.

“I’m fine now. Speaking of which, is Lynch coming to class today?”

Gansey looks confused by the non-sequitur.

“Ronan? No, I don’t think so. He said something about taking his brother to visit their mother. Why?”

Adam makes a mental note to ponder the intricacies of Ronan’s family life at a later date.

“He saw me sitting by the side of the road and offered me a ride to school. I would have been very late and very muddy if we hadn’t crossed paths.”

Gansey kindly chooses not to ask Adam for more details about the whole mud thing.

“Do you need a ride back home after school? I certainly don’t mind dropping you off in Ronan’s stead.”

Adam shakes his head. “No, it’s fine. I’m going to work anyway and it’s only a 15 minute walk from here. It’s just, I realized too late that I left my bike in the trunk of his car. I was going to ask him for it back when I saw him next but …” Adam gestures to the empty classroom, Gansey’s comment about him and his brother visiting their mother still ringing in his ears.

Adam knew that Ronan lived with Gansey and he knew his father had been murdered but it’d never occurred to him to wonder what had happened to his mother. Surely Ronan would still be living with her if that was an option?

But Adam knew too well not to make any kinds of assumptions about other people’s family lives. The scars on his own body were proof enough of that.

 

***

 

Adam pushes the whole Ronan thing to the back of his mind and tries to get through the rest of the day with minimal distractions.

He steps outside after fourth period, preparing himself for the not-so-bad walk to work and the arduously-long walk from work to home will follow _ after _ his shift ends when he spots his bike leaning against the side of the building.

He walks over slowly, as if it could possibly be anyone else’s bike, as if anyone else at Aglionby would ever voluntarily ride a bike to school when they could be driving daddy’s Mustang.

Not only is it his bike, but the broken tire has somehow miraculously been fixed. Adam pulls it away from the wall in disbelief. 

He scans the parking lot, looking for any sign of Ronan or the BMW, but other than his newly repaired bike there’s no trace of either.

Adam shakes his head and mounts his bike with a grin.

 

***

 

Adam’s doing that thing where he accidentally falls asleep at his desk in the middle of completing his homework when a loud series of knocks jolts him back into alertness.

He stands up from his desk with the grace, speed and agility of a sloth on ambien, which is to say, none at all.

Whoever’s at the other side of the door bangs again, this time with even more feeling.

“Yeah, I’m coming. Hold on.”

“Adam, your apartment is the size of a walk in closet how can it possibly take you this long,” Blue cries out from the other side of the door, but there’s a giddiness to her tone that makes Adam’s ears perk up.

He opens the door to reveal Blue wearing the kind of handmade monstrosity that only she could possibly create and that could only ever look good on her specifically.

She barges in and collapses face first on his bed, kicking her shoes off in the process.

“Something to share with the class?” Adam asks, sitting next to her.

Blue mumbles something from where her face is buried in the comforter. Adam snorts.

“Once more with enunciation, please.”

Blue lifts her face up to glare at him, but she can’t disguise the pink tint of her cheeks.

“I had a date with Gansey.”

Despite expecting something of the sort to happen eventually, Adam is surprised to realize this bit of news has still managed to catch him off guard.

“Oh, that’s … nice?” 

Blue snorts. “Your enthusiasm is overwhelming.”

Adam flicks her shoulder. “Shut up, I’m just processing. As far as I was aware, you loathed Gansey with a fiery passion.”

Blue shrugs, her cheeks going pink again. “Things change. Besides,” she says, poking him in the chest, “this is entirely your fault.”

“Me? How?”

Blue falls onto her back, staring at the ceiling. “If you hadn’t forced me to go to his stupid party I never would have realized that he’s more than just a rich asshole. Now I know he’s a rich asshole  _ with feelings _ .”

Adam grins. “I can practically feel him swooning from here.”

Blue kicks him.

“So I take it things went well?” Adam asks after a lingering moment of comfortable silence. Blue’s immediate blush is enough to confirm Adam’s assumption.

“He’s really sweet. I mean, yeah, he’s got some conditioning that comes with being part of the 1% that can’t be undone overnight but he listens to me and genuinely seems to want to learn.” 

“That’s good. I get that sense from him too, that he wants to understand those of us that weren’t born with a trust fund better.”

“There was one weird thing though,” Blue says, sitting up and leaving a bit of space between her and Adam on the bed. “His sister, Helen, came over when we were hanging out at Monmouth. She was perfectly polite and everything but … I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?”

“I don’t think she likes me.” Blue shrugs and Adam can tell it’s bothering her more than she’s letting on.

He throws an arm around her shoulders and pulls her into a sideways hug. “Having never met her, I can’t really say if your feeling is right or not, but even if she doesn’t like you - which, for the record, reflects far more poorly on you than her -  _ Gansey _ clearly does. And that’s really all that matters, right?”

Blue grins. “Yeah, he really does.”

Adam snorts. “And the feeling is mutual, I’m sure.”

Blue turns her face to the side, expression coy, but she’s not very good at hiding the hearts in her eyes. Not from Adam, anyway.

“How about you?” she asks, changing the subject.

When he gives her a look of confusion, she clarifies. “Anyone caught your eye lately? What about that Tad guy you mentioned?”

It takes him a second to remember who she’s even talking about. He’s been so focused on Ronan lately that Tad had flown completely out of his head.

“Tad’s alright,” Adam says finally. 

Blue squeezes his upper arm. “Hopefully you’ll be around next time Gansey’s sister drops by. If you’re her type, we can double.”

She only manages to keep a straight face for a couple of seconds before Adam’s horrified look sends her into a hysterical cackle.

“No offense to you or Gansey, but the thought of going on a double date with the both of you is my worst nightmare.”

Blue snickers. “It was worth a shot. And who knows, maybe Helen will decide Gansey’s angry friend is her type instead.”

Adam feels an uncomfortable jolt of something in his stomach at the thought of Ronan and Helen being together in any kind of romantic capacity.

“I think Lynch is too in love with himself for anyone else to tempt him, Gansey’s sister included.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t actually interacted with him much but I think there’s a big ol’ softie hiding under that rageful exterior.”

Adam finds himself thinking of the look on Ronan’s face when he’d first found Adam by the side of the road. He’d seen a brief glimpse of  _ something _ behind Ronan’s eyes but it’d passed too quickly for him to be able to identify it.

Adam must be in his head for longer than he’d realized because the next thing he knows, Blue is snoring next to him. 

He pulls her phone out of her purse and texts Maura to let her know she’s safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience with the delay. I've had, shall we say, a rough past few weeks which all culminated in me putting my back out yesterday /yay/
> 
> Anyway, I'm hoping to stick to the Monday posting schedule again. I do have the whole fic outlined already so it's really just a matter of actually pulling the words out of my head and into Google docs.
> 
> Comments and kudos are very much appreciated and thank you again for reading!


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ronan and Adam are forced to spend some quality time together without Gansey as a buffer.

While Adam and Ronan aren’t exactly close friends now or anything, they are both friends with _Gansey_ , and as a result they’ve fallen into a comfortable acquaintanceship with Gansey firmly in the middle, acting as a buffer.

It works out great for the first week. The three of them even manage to sit together at lunch with minimal bloodshed and drama. Although, that’s not counting the times Ronan skips lunch to do whatever Ronan does with Kavinsky. Adam tries not to think about it in too much detail. 

So of course, the one weekday that Gansey lets them know he’s going to be late because his mother needs him to come Richmond to assist with political damage control of some sort, Adam is faced with the most trying task he’s had to face since starting Aglionby.

He and Ronan are assigned to work on a Latin assignment together. As a pair. Just the two of them.

No Gansey to mitigate the awkwardness and keep the conversation flowing. Adam and Ronan will have to communicate effectively. Ronan will have to use complete sentences that contain more than 2 or 3 words in a row (and ideally no grunts or eyerolls).

This, Adam thinks, is going to be a disaster.

Their assignment isn’t a particularly difficult one, but it’s going to require more give-and-take than Adam thinks Ronan is prepared to compromise on. They have to pick a popular song and translate the lyrics into Latin without sacrificing the integrity of the original piece.

Adam doesn’t really listen to the radio much and didn’t have access to music when he lived in the trailer with his parents. Even now, the only time he ever hears what he assumes would be deemed popular music, it’s the terrible 80s rock Boyd insists on playing in the garage.

Somehow, Adam doubts Ronan will be particularly interested in translating “Every Rose has its Thorn” into Latin.

Ronan drags his desk closer to Adam’s and sits next to him silently, as if waiting for Adam to begin the conversation.

“You pick,” Adam relents, gesturing to the assignment instructions written on the chalkboard.

Ronan raises an eyebrow.

“I don’t really know much about popular music - ”

Ronan cuts him off brusquely. “And you think I do?”

Adam just stares at him for a long second. “More than me, I reckon, yeah.”

Ronan snorts. “What, you only listen to indie shit or something? Top 40 too mainstream for you?”

“I don’t listen to any music. That’s the point I was trying to make before you cut me off.”

Ronan has the decency to look abashed for a fraction of a second before his expression morphs into one of confusion. “Who the fuck doesn’t listen to music?”

As aggressive as his words are, his tone of voice conveys curiosity rather than judgment.

Adam shrugs in response. “It’s really not a big deal. Plus I can’t hear out of one ear so it makes listening with headphones challenging.”

Ronan’s expression twitches, and Adam wonders if he’s also remembering their first meeting when Ronan had insulted him and unknowingly used his deafness as an insult.

“Oh. That sucks. How’d that - ”

He cuts himself off and flushes, clearly realizing he’s crossed a boundary. Adam’s used to the question by now so it doesn’t trigger him the way it used to back after it had first happened. He shrugs again, trying to make it seem like the story doesn’t bother him anymore.

“I had an accident a few years ago. It is what it is,” Adam says as casually as he can, eager to change the subject. “So the assignment …”

Ronan seizes hold of the subject change like a drowning man clings to a buoy. “Sinead O’Connor.”

Adam blinks in response. “Gesundheit.”

“Shut up, I mean that’s who we should use for the assignment. She’s Irish and a badass.”

Adam nods slowly, a mental image surfacing in his brain. “Isn’t she _also_ bald? No wonder you feel such a strong kinship with her.”

Ronan scowls but it lacks heat.  A part of Adam’s brain that sounds suspiciously like Blue thinks it’s even kind of adorable.

Adam puts the brakes on that particular thought before it can develop any further.

“Okay sure. Sinead O’Connor.” Adam pauses. “You’re going to have to pick the song too because I don’t think I’m familiar with any of her stuff.”

Ronan snorts but doesn’t disagree with him. He grabs a pencil and starts humming softly to himself, jotting down the lyrics as he goes.

“You know all the words by heart?” Adam is impressed despite himself.

Ronan shrugs, aiming for casual and missing the mark just slightly enough that Adam can tell something’s off. “My mom loved her. Used to drive my dad crazy singing Nothing Compares 2 U at him whenever he’d get home from a work trip.”

Adam notices Ronan’s use of the past tense when referring to his mother. He mentally files it away into the folder in his brain dubbed ‘the mysteries of Ronan Lynch’.

“At least it’s coming in handy now,” Adam finally replies, also aiming for lighthearted and probably missing the mark too. Ronan appears grateful for the lack of follow up questions so Adam assumes he hasn’t misstepped too badly.

Ronan keeps humming and Adam watches in fascination as he jots down the lyrics to the chorus, then the next verse, and finally the coda at the end of the song.

“ _Finitum_ ,” he says, smirking as he pushes the paper towards Adam.

Adam only gives it a quick glance before pulling his phone out and googling the lyrics to verify their accuracy.

Ronan stares at him, the smirk falling off of his face only to be replaced with a look outrage.

“Ouch, Parrish. Your lack of trust in my Sinead O’Connor recall abilities cuts deep.”

Adam snorts. “You made a mistake in the first verse. It’s _fifteen_ hours, not fourteen.”

“The fuck?” Ronan grumbles as he grabs Adam’s phone out of his hand and glares at it.

Adam can’t help but grin.

 

***

 

“You’re just pissed that this is the one school-related thing I’m better at than you,” Ronan says, his voice more spirited than Adam’s ever heard it before as they leave the classroom at the end of the period.

Adam shoots him a look. “Sorry, not all of us can grow up speaking latin with our parents.”

He wonders for a second if he’s accidentally put his foot in his mouth by bringing up Ronan’s dead father for the second time that morning but Ronan doesn’t seem bothered.

“Parent. Singular,” he says. “Mom was shit at latin. Like Gansey.” He pauses to smirk. “Speaking of Dick, you sitting with us again today?” he asks as they idle outside of the cafeteria.

“As opposed to …?”

Ronan flushes. “I don’t know, man, you’re the busiest person in this school. I didn’t want to make any assumptions about how you’d be spending your lunch period.”

Ronan’s not wrong, per se; Adam has spent many a lunch period working in the library rather than eating. What Ronan doesn’t seem to realize is that ever since Adam had been invited into the fold, he’d spent every lunch with them. It wasn’t quite the same as sitting with Blue and Noah had been at Mountainview, but it still managed to fill a void inside Adam that he hadn’t even realized was there.

“Yeah, I’ll sit with you.” Adam’s surprised to feel his face heat up a bit.

Ronan is too busy scanning the cafeteria for Gansey to notice, which Adam is grateful for.

“I know he said he’d be late but he made it sound like he’d be back by lunch.”

Adam joins Ronan in searching the crowd, looking out for a magnificent head of hair or a gaudy pair of brightly coloured boat shoes, whatever his eyes happen to land on first.

“Ronan, Adam!”

They both turn around to see Gansey speeding towards them, his usually immaculate appearance oddly frazzled.

“...Dick,” Ronan says slowly, evidently just as surprised by Gansey being so out of sorts.

“You okay?” Adam asks, his eyes roving over Gansey’s glasses (crooked) and his hair (mussed up as though he’d been running his hands through it in a hurry.)

Gansey sighs. “Yes, of course. The imposition on my morning took longer than I’d expected to resolve itself.”

At Ronan’s look he adds. “My mother expects me to be more involved in her political campaign. Apparently at the expense of both my social and educational life.”

Adam frowns, not quite sure what to make of that, but he’s distracted by the sound of his name being called from the other side of the room.

He looks over his shoulder to see Tad grinning as he walks towards him. The smile abruptly falls off his face as he gets closer and notices Ronan, who had clearly been hidden from view behind Gansey before.

“Uh, hey. I wanted to talk to you,” Tad finally says, his eyes not so subtly darting over to Ronan every few seconds.

“Go for it,” Adam replies, his voice polite but not particularly engaged. He can feel Ronan’s aggression radiating over from where Gansey has his hand firmly clasped on his shoulder, holding him back.

“Not here,” Tad says, looking like he’s regretting every single decision that led to this moment.

“Look Tad, no offense but I haven’t got time - ”

“I was wondering if you could help me study for the physics test?” Tad looks like he’s waiting for Ronan to mock him or something.

It strikes Adam in that moment how little Tad actually seems to know about who Ronan is if he seriously thinks that’s a possibility. Ronan can be cruel, sure, but he’s not a bully, especially not about other people’s schoolwork; Ronan himself is barely scraping by in physics as it is.

Adam realizes with surprise a moment later that he’s apparently now in a position to think he himself knows Ronan well enough to make that kind of assessment.

“Yeah, sure. Does Friday work?”

Tad grins, relieved. “Yeah definitely. And I can pay you, of course - ”

Adam’s body goes rigid and he feels Gansey clamp his other hand on _his_ shoulder, grounding him.

“I’m sure that won’t be necessary, Tad.”

Tad blinks, the dismissal clear in Gansey’s voice no matter how politely stated.

“Right. Um, later.”

Tad walks off and Adam feels his body sag.

“So, lunch?” Gansey asks, his voice unnaturally chipper considering the emotional rollercoaster the three of them had been on less than a moment prior.

They walk over to their table and Ronan lightly but deliberately bumps Adam’s arm with his elbow. Adam looks over but Ronan’s staring straight ahead.

Adam shakes his head, smiling to himself as he grabs a seat next to him at the table.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took longer than i'd hoped it would to finish writing but it has been A WEEK (multiple that by like 3 because i feel like i've been running on fumes since the new year started.)
> 
> I hope the wait was worth it. The slow burn has indeed finally begun to intensify...
> 
> Find me at saintagnesparrish on tumblr and please consider reblogging [my fic post](http://saintagnesparrish.tumblr.com/post/171804194651/a-truth-universally-acknowledged-pynch-fic) if you like what you've read so far!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've finally reached the midpoint of the story. If you've read or watched Pride & Prejudice before, then you know exactly what this means *ominous cackle*
> 
> If you haven't, well, I suggest you buckle up ...

“So you’re saying I need to figure out the velocity before I focus on solving the equation.” Tad pauses. “What does velocity mean again?”

Adam just barely resists the urge to slam his head against the library table. He holds a hand up to stop Tad from finishing his sentence instead.

“Tad, we’ve been here for almost an hour and I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.”

Adam aggressively circles a paragraph in Tad’s notes and shoves them towards him. “Memorize this. Get it tattooed on the inside of your eyelids if you must. But I can’t help you prepare for this test until you understand what each of those terms mean and how they relate to each other.”

Tad opens his mouth to retort but Adam is saved by the bell. Literally.

“I’ve got a shift in 20 minutes. I’ll see you later,” Adam says, throwing his books into his bag as neatly, and more importantly, as _quickly_ , as he can.

He’s nearly completed his escape and has just made it out to the parking lot when he feels a hand on his shoulder. Adam bites back a dramatic sigh before turning back to face Tad.

“ _Yes?”_

Tad has the decency to look sheepish. “I can, uh, give you a ride.”

Adam stares at him blankly.

“To work. You know, uh, to thank you for helping me,” Tad continues.

Adam fights to control the look of horror threatening to spread across his face.

“That’s nice of you, Tad, but - ”

A shark-nosed BMW appears suddenly, Ronan pressing down on the horn and glaring daggers at Tad while Gansey scolds him for his lack of decorum.

“ - I’ve already got a ride.”

Ronan honks again for good measure. Gansey facepalms. Tad purses his lips as though he’s got a lemon wedge stuck under his tongue.

Adam prepares himself for whatever nonsense Tad is going to start spewing, but other than a glare in Ronan’s direction, Tad remains silent.

“Keep studying, Tad. We’ll pick up where we left off later this week.”

Tad re-directs his gaze to meet Adam’s eyes. “Be careful with them, Adam. They’re not like you.”

Tad walks away, leaving Adam to process the meaning behind what he’d just said.

“What the fuck,” Adam mumbles to himself. Ronan’s limited patience has clearly reached its threshold as he leans on the horn for a solid 10 seconds straight.

Adam hurries over with a glower. Gansey looks like he wants to crawl inside the trunk.

“Patience is a virtue, Lynch,” Adam bites out as he climbs into the backseat. Ronan grins pleasantly.

“You want to be on time for work or should we call Tad back to keep pestering you?”

Adam narrows his eyes. “Just drive.”

Ronan speeds off before Adam has a chance to buckle his seatbelt.

 

***

 

“So we’re sitting on the couch in his living room when he honest to God yawns and throws his arm around my shoulder.” Noah is already laughing before he’s even finished the sentence. “Like, who even does that in real life?”

Noah had arrived at Adam’s apartment 15 minutes prior and has been mocking Henry ever since. What he doesn’t seem to realize, though, is that despite his verbal jabs, Noah’s eyes still light up like he’s in a Taylor Swift music video whenever he talks about Henry.

“So have you kissed him yet?” Adam asks, deciding to cut to the chase.

Noah gasps. “Why Adam Parrish, what a delightfully and wildly out of character question from you.”

Adam shrugs. “Blue’s not here yet so I figured it was my obligation to ask on her behalf.”

Noah grins. “Well, if you must know - ”

As if she’s been summoned, Blue storms her way inside Adam’s apartment. The door ominously slams shut behind her.

“I hate men.”

Adam and Noah exchange a look.

“All men? Or just the ones who aren’t us?” Noah asks gently.

To Adam and Noah’s horror, Blue bursts into tears.

Noah immediately gets up and pulls Blue into a hug. Adam sits on the bed uselessly, feeling as though he’s been frozen in place; in all the years that he and Blue have been best friends, he’s only seen her cry once, and that was because she broke her hand during an impromptu game of field hockey in the front yard at Fox Way.

For her to sob like this means something has to be seriously wrong.

By the time Adam snaps out of it, Noah’s coaxed Blue over to the bed. He wraps a blanket around her shoulders and gets her nestled between the two of them.

“He broke up with me,” Blue sniffles, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. “That stupid jerk, made me have feelings for him and then dumped me as soon as things got even a little bit difficult."

Adam’s mind starts racing. Gansey had been acting weirder than usual over the past few days, but it’d been sporadic enough that Adam had mostly ignored it and written it off as one of Gansey’s many quirks.

“Did you have a fight or something?” Noah asks, once again taking the lead and proving that he’s by far the most emotionally well-adjusted person in their friend group.

Blue shakes her head. “No. At least not until after he tried to end things with me.”

Adam puts his hand over Blue’s. “Start from the beginning. What did he say?”

Blue looks at him, her eyes watery but still full of rage. “He said he needed to ‘focus on the other priorities in his life’ and that maybe we don’t really fit together after all.”

Noah gasps. “What a douchebag.”

Blue nods. “I asked him what the hell that was supposed to mean and he told me that his mother’s election was closer than ever and he was concerned about how people supporting her campaign would view our relationship.”

“I highly doubt the voters care about your relationship with Gansey,” Adam says, quickly adding, “and I mean that with the greatest love and respect for you, of course.”

Blue sniffles again. “It’s not just the voters. It’s the super conservative donors backing her campaign, too. They’re very particular about what they are and _aren’t_ willing to support in a candidate and apparently me and my new-agey family fall firmly under the second category.”

Noah nods. “They dealt with this kind of stuff on  _The Good Wife_ all the time. No offense to Gansey’s mom but she’s no Alicia Florrick.”

Blue looks like she wants to laugh but a sob escapes instead. “I thought he was different, you know? But he’s a coward who’s always going to prioritize his family’s reputation over anything else.”

Noah rubs her back. “Better you learned this about him now than later on when you were in too deep.”

Blue sighs. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but I should have listened to Ronan.”

Adam’s brain makes a record scratch noise. “Ronan talked to you?”

Blue nods. “Threatened is more like. The first time I was over at their place alone, he took me aside and told me Gansey needed someone who understood his life and the obligations he had because of who his parents were. He basically implied I wasn’t good enough for him and that Gansey should be with someone his family would be proud of.”

Despite the insult being aimed at Blue, Adam feels as though he’s been slapped.

 

***

 

Adam somehow manages to avoid Gansey and Ronan for the duration of the next school day. It helps that Gansey is stuck inside his own head, barely paying attention to anything that’s not his own thoughts and his course work. Ronan, on the other hand, isn’t so easy to brush off.

Adam purposefully shows up to their one shared class as late as possible, sliding into an empty seat by the door when the bell rings. He does his best to ignore the look on Ronan’s face as Ronan takes his bag off the seat they’d held for him.

During lunch, he hides in the science lab, forcing himself to choke down his peanut butter sandwich as quickly as possible.

When the final bell goes, signalling the end of the school day, Adam can’t believe his luck. All he has to do is sneak outside, grab his bike, and ride off into the sunset towards Boyd’s auto shop for his next shift.

Adam stops so abruptly that the person walking behind him slams into his back. His bike, his only reliable form of transportation around Henrietta and his most valuable possession, is mysteriously missing both wheels.

Adam can’t help but gape at the scene before him. He has a shift in 15 minutes and it’ll take at least 40 minutes to walk to Boyd’s from Aglionby.

“Hey, poor boy.” Adam’s jaw tightens and he forces himself to take a deep breath before turning to face the voice he’s come to recognize intimately.

Joseph Kavinsky sits on the hood of his car, holding one of Adam’s bike wheels.

Adam glares at him but doesn’t say a word, fear and rage warring inside of him.

Kavinsky throws the wheel to the ground by Adam’s feet, grinning wildly as Adam jumps out of the way.

“Where’s the other wheel?” Adam finally asks, somehow managing to keep his anger from boiling over.

“What, you telling me you can’t use your fancy mechanic skills to turn that piece of shit bike of yours into a unicycle?”

When Adam refuses to take the bait, Kavinsky points to the roof of the school.

“Have fun, princess.”

Adam shakes his head, picks up the wheel Kavinsky had thrown at him, and starts walking. He’ll be late for his shift and he’ll have to leave ridiculously early to make it on time for school tomorrow until he can figure out how to fix his bike.

Adam has truly never hated rich people more than he does in this very moment.

Adam’s just made it out of the Aglionby parking lot and onto the main road when the already shitty day decides to fuck him over completely. The heavens above open, unleashing a storm of epic proportions that leaves him drenched from head to toe in under a minute.

Adam’s tempted to give into the sudden and overwhelming urge to cry; it’s raining too hard for anyone to tell he’s that he’s having a breakdown, anyhow.

A car honks behind him and Adam turns, ready to give whatever entitled Aglionby student is harassing him now the finger.

Ronan Lynch comes to a stop behind him and pushes open the passenger door.

“Get in, Parrish.”

Adam shakes his head and keeps walking, the bicycle wheel in his hand feeling heavier by the second.

Ronan mutters a curse under his breath and pulls the door closed again, speeding up so he’s driving beside Adam.

“What the fuck, Parrish?”

Adam just starts walking faster.

Ronan pulls the car over to the side of the road and gets out.

Adam pauses, staring in disbelief as Ronan gets soaked.

“Are you insane?” Adam bites out before he can help it. Ronan shrugs.

“Your stupid ass seemed to think walking in this shitstorm was a good idea so I thought I’d tag along.”

“You can’t just leave your car there! You’ll get rear-ended or towed or something.”

Ronan shrugs, raindrops rolling down his face. “If you’re walking, I’m walking.”

Adam grits his teeth and debates whether or not it’s worth getting into this particular fight.

He’s pissed at Ronan for what he said to Blue, yes, but he’s also freezing cold and almost certainly going to be very, very late for work if he keeps walking.

“Fine,” Adam acquiesces before striding over to Ronan’s car, getting into the passenger seat with his bike wheel and slamming the door behind him.

Ronan shakes his head and gets back into the driver’s seat.

“You going to Boyd’s?” Ronan asks.

Adam nods and the car descends into silence.

“I saved you a seat in class,” Ronan finally says a few minutes later.

“I know.”

“You ditched us at lunch, too,” Ronan adds.

“Yep.” Adam’s voice is flat and emotionless.

“You pissed at me or something?” Ronan finally asks, his voice verging on disbelief.

“Yep,” Adam concedes, still staring straight ahead.

Ronan abruptly hits the brakes.

“You  _are_ mad at me?”

Adam does some quick math in his head; Ronan’s driven them far enough that he can reasonably walk to work from where they’re idling without being too late. It’s still pouring rain outside but anything beats having this particular conversation with Ronan.

Adam reaches for the door handle. Ronan slams his hand down to lock it before Adam can get the door open.

“Let me out,” Adam says, just barely keeping his anger under control.

“Not until you tell me what I did,” Ronan replies, stubborn as ever.

“Did you seriously think Blue wouldn’t tell me?” Adam explodes, the intensity of his outburst surprising them both.

Ronan stares at him in confusion.

“You told her that she wasn’t good enough for Gansey and encouraged him to break up with her!”

Ronan blinks at him. “It’s not like that.”

“So I’m supposed to think my best friend lied to me?”

Ronan grits his teeth together. “No - ”

“She came over to my place sobbing yesterday. She hates being vulnerable and only ever gave Gansey a shot in the first place because I told her he was worth it.”

“Gansey _is_ worth it. It’s not like he personally cares about what people think about her - ” Ronan starts to retort, but Adam cuts him off.

“And then there’s the whole Tad thing. He warned me early on about the kind of person you are. Clearly I should have listened,” Adam spits out.

Ronan swallows whatever he’d been about to say and gives Adam the kind of look that would probably intimidate him if he wasn’t still so full of his own righteous indignation.

“The  _Tad_ thing?” Ronan asks, disdain dripping from his voice when he says Tad’s name.

“You blame him for your brother getting expelled even though Tad was just doing the right thing.”

Ronan is utterly and completely still for a long moment. He unlocks the passenger side door.

“Get the fuck out of my car.”

Adam smiles savagely. “Gladly.”

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Zayn voice* _hey what's up it's been a while_
> 
> thank you so much to everyone who commented on this fic and showed enthusiasm for it even during my unintentional hiatus. Unfortunately some real life stuff came up and I haven't really had the time or emotional capacity for fandom but things are going better now so I've felt newly motivated to work on it again.
> 
> I know it feels like Ronan and Adam only just finally became friends and I blew their entire relationship to smithereens but ... things have to get worse before they can better (and they will!)


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Ronan seemed … quite upset … when he got home from school.” Gansey says, testing the waters._
> 
> _“I don’t really want to talk about Ronan.”_
> 
> _“Fair enough. But for the sake of transparency, I’d ask you to let me clear the air about something.”_

After an unpleasantly wet walk to work and an even more unpleasantly long shift in which he was forced to repair cars while wearing soggy socks and underwear beneath his coveralls, Adam begins the trudge back to St. Agnes.

If he’s lucky, he’ll make it back to the church just before 11:30 pm, which will give a grand total of half an hour to finish up his Functions homework.

Luck, clearly, is not Adam’s side. He spots a familiar bright orange car in the parking lot outside of the church and his hands clench involuntarily into fists.

Adam takes a deep breath, forces his hands to loosen their grip, and begins the long climb up the stairs to his apartment.

Gansey is pacing outside of his door by the time Adam reaches the top, and his eyes light up briefly before his face takes on a far more guarded expression.

“Long shift?” Gansey asks carefully. Adam supposes it’s not a surprise he already knows all about his altercation with Ronan after school.

Adam steps around Gansey and pulls his keys out, unlocking the heavy wooden door and pushing it open with his shoulder.

Gansey hovers awkwardly in the doorway as if he’s uncertain how to proceed. Adam considers taking pity on him but then remembers the look on Blue’s face when she’d told him and Noah about how Gansey had broken her heart.

Adam’s expression hardens and he stands there, blocking the doorway, just waiting for Gansey to say something of substance.

“I just want to talk,” Gansey begins slowly. 

Adam crosses his arms. “It’s not me you should be talking to.”

Gansey sighs, scrubbing a hand across his face. “I already tried talking to Blue but her mother closed the door in my face and her cousin keeps hanging up the phone whenever I call.”

Adam feels himself softening a bit despite himself; he’s been on Blue’s bad side often enough when they were growing up to know just exactly how unpleasant the ire of the ladies of Fox Way can be.

He steps inside his room, leaving the door open for Gansey to enter behind him.

After another cautious moment of hesitation, Gansey follows, closing the door firmly behind him.

Gansey stands awkwardly in the centre of the room as Adam puts his bag down and takes off his shoes and then his socks before walking over to the sink to ring them out and let them dry over the shower railing.

“You can sit down,” Adam concedes before closing the bathroom door and putting on a dry pair of boxers, a t-shirt, and the only pair of sweatpants he owns that don’t have oil stains on them.

When he opens the door, he discovers Gansey perched precariously on the edge of the bed, taking up as little space as possible.

Adam sits down in the desk chair across from him and waits.

“Ending things with Blue is probably the worst thing I’ve ever done,” Gansey says, voice still weary. Almost despite himself, Adam believes him.

“I know it sounds juvenile, we’ve only been seeing each other for a short period of time anyhow, but she made me happier than I ever thought possible.”

“So why did you do it?” Adam asks.

“My parents found out about my relationship with her after my dearest sister dropped in unexpectedly and saw us together. I didn’t have a choice.”

“You always have a choice - ”

“No, Adam,” Gansey cuts him off, voice surprisingly firm. “When I say I didn’t have a choice, I mean my mother told me to break things off or she would pull me out of Aglionby and transfer me to a boarding school in Europe for the rest of the year. Whatever it takes to be sure I wasn’t doing anything to tarnish the family name during her election campaign.”

Gansey stares at his hands, picking at a hangnail by this thumb.

“My parents love me but they don’t understand me. They’ve always expected me to meet some aristocratic, well-bred girl at an Ivy League school in New England and get engaged to her by the time I’m finished undergrad. The second I started chafing against their expectations, my mother already had a back up plan in place to keep me in line.”

“Does Blue know this?”

Gansey sighs again. “Parts of it, yes. I didn’t want to hurt her by letting her know what my family had said about her. I can handle her anger, but I can’t allow my family to cause her pain or to make her feel ashamed of who she is.” He pauses, finally meeting Adam’s eyes. “I won’t let my family tarnish her.”

Adam nods slowly. “Okay, I get that. But you do know that Ronan went behind your back and told her your family would disapprove of her anyway, right?”

Gansey laughs humorlessly. “Yes, he told me. I can’t remember ever being that angry with him before, not even that time when he stole my car and crashed it when I was in DC last year.”

Adam files that particular bit of knowledge away to inquire about at a later date.

Gansey continues. “He claims he was trying to get Blue to break up with me first because he knew the longer things went on, the harder it would be to end things and the worse it would hurt both of us.”

Now it’s Adam’s turn to be cautious. “And do you believe him?”

Gansey nods. “I do. He can be boneheaded but he’s like my brother. He understands that my life isn’t really my own, that the world I inhabit is one of obligation. He knows better than anyone in my life that there are certain rules I have to follow if I want to prevent my parents from completely controlling my life until I turn 18.”

Adam stands up and sits next to Gansey on the bed. “For what it’s worth, he seriously underestimated how stubborn Blue is. The moment he told her she wasn’t good enough for you, it only made her cling to you harder.”

Gansey attempts to smile.  “How is she?”

“Pretty terrible, actually, but she’s tough. She’ll get through it.”

Gansey nods. “And how about you?”

Adam starts picking at a loose thread on his blanket.

“Not great. But I’ve been through worse.”

“Ronan seemed … quite upset … when he got home from school.” Gansey says, testing the waters.

“I don’t really want to talk about Ronan.”

“Fair enough. But for the sake of transparency, I’d ask you to let me clear the air about something.”

Adam watches Gansey warily but doesn’t shut him down.

“Tad Carruthers is not a good person. I don’t know what he told you about Ronan’s family but what I can say is that it probably wasn’t accurate.”

Adam’s curiosity gets the better of him. “Then tell me. What really happened with Tad and Ronan’s brother?”

“Tad is the only child of two very wealthy people who don’t particularly like each other and who spend as much time living away from each other as possible. As a result, Tad has never really understood the concept of boundaries or ethical behaviour.”

“What does that mean?” Adam asks uncomfortably.

“Tad’s been selling prescription medications to other Aglionby students for years. A friend of his works in the Dean’s office. This friend tipped Tad off about the locker searches scheduled for later that day because some of the parents were complaining about their kids coming home from school high. Tad realized that his entire operation was about to go under and only had one chance to throw the blame for the drugs on someone else. He chose Ronan’s brother, Matthew, as his scapegoat and planted the drugs in his locker.”

Adam stares at Gansey in stunned silence.   
  
“Matthew said they weren’t his, of course, but nobody believed him. Ronan and Matthew’s father had just been killed under mysterious circumstances. No one was surprised to think that Niall Lynch’s tendency to make bad life decisions had trickled down to his sons as well.”

“So Tad just got away with it?”

Gansey nods. “Yes. Matthew was expelled and sent to live in DC with Ronan’s elder brother, Declan. Tad was very careful for a few months, only selling drugs to students he knew he could trust off of school property, but everyone at Aglionby seemed satisfied because, as far as they could tell, Matthew’s expulsion had stopped the problem.”

Adam’s watch beeps and he looks down to see that it’s already midnight. So much for finishing his math homework.

Gansey gets up and shoots Adam an apologetic look. “I’m sorry for taking up so much of your time tonight, I just,” he pauses, struggling to find the right words. “Ronan can be abrasive, but he’s a good person. The thought of you two falling out because of a misunderstanding was too much for me to bear.”

Adam nods, still processing everything Gansey had just told him about Tad.

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow?” Gansey asks on his way to the door.

“Yeah, for sure.” Adam forces himself to give Gansey a parting smile. “Goodnight, Gansey.”

Gansey smiles back and closes the heavy wooden door behind him.

 

***

 

While the thought of meeting up with Tad again to help him study had merely been an annoyance before his talk with Gansey, it’s quickly morphed into a full blown source of anxiety for Adam.

He debates cancelling and nearly tells Tad he can’t help him out anymore, but then he remembers his broken bike; Tad may potentially be a sociopath, but he does pay Adam well for his time.

Adam manages to avoid any one on one conversations with Tad during the school day, saving his energy for what’s bound to be an awful hour in the library after classes are over.

Adam ends up waiting alone at one of the study carrels for a full 15 minutes before he starts packing his bag up again. He barely has any free time as it is and wasting even a fraction of it on Tad Carruthers makes him feel dirty.

Adam gets up from the desk and starts heading towards the door when Tad bursts into the room, his backpack wildly swinging from his hand.

“Adam, wait - ”

“I’m charging you a full hour for the time you’ve just made me waste.” Adam says, not slowing his stride.

Tad grabs Adam by the shoulder in an attempt to stop him and Adam has an immediately visceral and completely unwelcome flashback to his father’s hands on him.

Adam’s instincts kick in without any conscious input from his brain as he shoves Tad off of him as hard as he can. Tad trips over the corner of the desk and falls to the floor.

The zipper on his backpack opens with the force of the fall and three bottles of prescription medication roll out. Each bottle is prescribed to a different patient. Funnily, none of them say ‘Tad Carruthers'.

Tad scrambles to shove the bottles back into his backpack before anyone else can see them but the damage is done.

Gansey was right afterall. Tad’s a drug dealer.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one of the trickiest challenges i had when outlining this fic was trying to find a dramatic enough (yet still plausible) substitution for what mister wickham did to darcy's sister in p&p so hopefully 'tad is a drug dealer' ticks all of those boxes well enough lmao.
> 
> thanks for reading! ronan's going to feature quite heavily in the next chapter and all of the chapters after that i promise ;)


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam can't stop staring at Ronan. Matthew is a precious baby bird. Henry and Noah are adorable. Gansey continues to chafe against his parent's expectations for him. Blue just wants to drink her Smirnoff Ice in peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Okay, but like, there’s going to be a bouncy castle.” Based on the excitement in Noah’s voice, Adam assumes he’s supposed to feel enthusiastic about the prospect of a children’s carnival ride being set up in the backyard of Henry’s house.

Henry and his roommates are hosting a party at Litchfield house on Saturday night and Noah has spent the better part of the past hour trying to convince (re: persistently badger) Adam and Blue into coming.

Adam, knowing that where there’s a Henry Cheng there’s bound to be a Gansey and a Ronan, has no intention of going. Just because he’s accepted that Tad was lying doesn’t mean he’s ready to face yet another awkward encounter with Ronan (especially after the anger of their last conversation). Not to mention, Ronan still hates his guts. He avoids him in class and refuses to sit with him and Gansey at lunch, choosing instead to hang with Kavinsky’s crew or just get in his car and go wherever it is that Ronan goes when he’s not being observed.

And then there’s the whole Blue and Gansey thing. Just because Adam understands where Gansey was coming from when he broke up with Blue doesn’t mean things are somehow magically okay again between the two of them. 

So, Noah can rave all he wants about bouncy castles and an open bar (but seriously, what kind of 17 year old has an open bar? Aglionby truly is another world) but Adam’s ready to stand his ground.

It’s unfortunate, then, when Blue sighs wistfully and bites her lip.

“You’re sure it’s not going to be weird?” she asks Noah.

Noah’s eyes widen and he starts clapping. “Blue, are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Blue turns to look at Adam. “I’m tired of avoiding things that seem fun on the off chance that Gansey and Ronan are going to be there, aren’t you?”

No, actually, Adam’s perfectly okay with avoiding anything and everything to do with Ronan for the rest of eternity if that’s what it takes, but he knows it’s futile to protest. He’s clearly outnumbered. 

“If you want to go, we’ll go,” Adam inevitably agrees.

Noah whoops and starts jumping up and down.

“I promise you guys won’t regret it. Henry knows how to throw a wicked party.” He pauses, taking in the wary look on Adam’s face. “And besides, it’s a big house. It’ll be easy to avoid …  _ people _ . You know?”

Somehow, Adam doubts that.

 

***

 

“Noah!” Henry shouts, his entire face filled with happiness when he spots the three of them on the doorstep. He immediately pulls Noah into a hug, pausing to kiss him firmly on the lips before letting go.

Blue looks at Adam and grins. As hesitant as Adam has been about coming to this party, he can’t deny how happy he is to see Noah and Henry’s budding relationship. Blue and Adam may be miserable but they’re both happy that at least one third of their trio gets to have a healthy dating life.

Henry pulls away from Noah but keeps his arm slung around his shoulders. “Bluebird, Adam, so glad you could make it!”

He gestures for them to come inside and immediately gives them a mini tour.

“Kitchen’s through there, beer pong’s over there, and washroom’s up the stairs if you need it. Help yourself to anything - food, drinks, light-up party favours - and make yourselves at home.”

He tugs Noah after him and they disappear before Adam’s had a chance to fully process what’s happening. He stares blankly at the empty space where Noah was standing just a second before.

“And then there were two,” Blue mutters, but the smirk on her face makes it clear she’s not taking it personally.

Adam links his arm through Blue’s elbow as they start making their way through the house towards the kitchen.

Bodies fill every room in the house, moving and dancing and making out as music blares through surround sound speakers that probably cost more than Adam’s rent.

“You want a drink?” Blue asks, yelling at Adam over the music. Adam nods and Blue surveys the options on the table. She upends a healthy portion of Smirnoff Ice into her cup and grabs a can of root beer for Adam.

They clink glasses (well, Blue’s plastic red solo cup to Adam’s soda can) and make their way into the main room of the house.

In here, the music is even louder than Adam had thought possible. Bodies writhe as people dance with abandon. His root beer is nearly knocked out of his hand by someone’s elbow and he can already feel a headache building.

He should have brought earplugs (he’s extra cautious about conserving the hearing he still has left in his good ear) but it hadn’t even occurred to him when they were getting ready.

Blue looks over at his expression and winces sympathetically.

_ You okay? _ she mouths at him. 

Adam shakes his head. Blue frowns, getting ready to move somewhere quieter with him when a cautious hand touches her shoulder.

They both look up to see Gansey standing there, a sheepish expression on his face. He nods at Adam and then looks at Blue like he’s prepared for her to spit at him or kick him in the crotch. (Or both.)

Blue looks torn, staring between Gansey and Adam like she’s the heroine in an 18th century love triangle.

Adam gets her attention and mouths  _ talk to him. _

When she still looks uncertain, he rolls his eyes and yells, “I’m just going to get some air. You stay here.”

He turns and walks away before she can second guess herself.

 

***

 

Stepping back into the kitchen brings immediate relief, but for Adam, the real appeal lies in going outside and getting some fresh air.

The backyard is a no-go (it turns out Henry rented not one, but  _ two _ bouncy castles which are both teeming with drunken, screeching teenagers), so Adam steps out the side door and makes his way back towards the front yard, hoping the porch swing he saw earlier is still empty.

He makes it around the corner of the house and lets out a sigh of relief when the yard appears to be empty.

Then he sees a pair of black combat boots.

Adam leans forward, trying to figure out who else is there. He freezes in place. 

Ronan is sitting on the steps, cradling a beer in his hands as he stares out into the night.

There’s a look on his face that Adam’s never seen before. It’s not sadness, it’s not boredom, and it’s not anger. Melancholy maybe? But what would Ronan Lynch have to be melancholic about?

Adam stays where he is, completely frozen in the alley beside the house. He’s not sure if he wants to interrupt or if Ronan even  _ wants _ to see him. Adam stares at Ronan’s face and decides to risk it. He can’t just keep running away from him. Eventually they’ll have to talk.

But of course, the universe has other plans. The loud, thudding sound of a car bass thrums in the air as Kavinsky’s Mitsubishi screeches to a halt in front of the Litchfield house.

Adam immediately ducks back into the shadows.

“Lynch!” Kavinsky calls, rolling down the window. It’s a wonder he’s not deaf too considering how loud the music pulsing out of the car is.

Ronan crumples up his empty beer can and stands up.

As if the universe is truly out to get him tonight, Adam is suddenly struck with the overwhelming urge to cough. 

Ronan shouldn’t have been able to hear him; between the music still pumping out of the Litchfield house and the bass thudding out of Kavinsky’s car, there’s no way Adam’s muffled coughing-into-his-elbow-noise should have been able to compete.

And yet, like a magnet, Ronan’s head snaps to the side and his eyes immediately lock with Adam’s.

Ronan’s face remains blank but the air between them feels charged. Adam can’t seem to look away, not while Ronan’s looking at him like  _ that _ . Like maybe he wishes things between them could be different, too.

But then Kavinsky honks obnoxiously and the moment shatters. Ronan drags his eyes away from Adam’s and keeps walking towards the car like nothing happened.

Adam stands there, watching, as Ronan gets into the passenger seat. The car pulls away and Adam is alone again.

 

***

 

It’s nearly 2am by the time Adam gets back to the comfort of his tiny apartment above St. Agnes.

He’d gone back inside to check on Blue, only to see that her and Gansey were sitting pressed together on Henry’s couch, obviously deep in conversation.

He’d been glad to see them talking again, even if it’s unlikely to lead to anything serious (Adam can’t forget the pained look on Gansey’s face when he’d talked about the very real likelihood of his family sending him away for disobeying them).

So he’d walked back on his own, sending Blue a quick text to let her know he was leaving and to get a ride back from Gansey when she ready to go.

He takes off his jeans and falls back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. He’d been so sure that Ronan still hated him, but there was something in his expression during that brief moment they’d seen each other that filled Adam with doubt.

Adam decides right then and there that he has to make things right, if not for his own sake then for Ronan’s.

He pulls out his phone and opens the thread of unanswered texts Tad had been sending him ever since the incident in the library, all of them begging Adam for a chance to explain.

Adam stares at his phone, trying to figure out what to say. He wants Tad to think he’s giving him a chance to make things right. He doesn’t want to tip him off that there’s a bigger plan in place, not yet.

_ We can talk on Monday _ is what he finally ends up sending.

Tad responds almost immediately:   _ thank u adam pls trust me when I say I can explain _

Adam rolls his eyes and puts his phone on the bedside table. 

 

***

 

Adam isn’t really sure what compels him to leave his room a full half hour before he needs to go to Boyd’s but he can’t deny that the need to escape the noise from the congregation having their weekly Sunday mass below is a pretty substantial motivating factor. 

He laces up his runners (one of three pairs of shoes he owns - the other two being a pair of industrial monstrosities that he’s expected to wear when he works at the factory and a pair of scuffed dress shoes he saves for special occasions, like his Aglionby interview) and starts making his way down the stairs. He looks down as he pats his pocket, double checking he has his wallet and his keys. When he looks up again, he nearly bolts right back up the stairs again.

He sees Ronan walking across the parking lot, his arm wrapped around the shoulders of a younger, blonder, and curlier boy who Adam assumes is the brother Tad got expelled. Matthew.

Matthew is so young. Objectively, Adam had known that, but actually seeing him in person and feeling the innocence radiating off of him makes Adam’s heart hurt. Tad’s cruelty clearly knows no bounds.

Adam feels a sharp pain in his chest as he watches the two of them together. Ronan is smiling, and it’s not that sarcastic i’m-laughing-at-your-pain smile he sometimes gets on his face when Gansey’s car breaks down or he says something stupid and full of white male privilege in front of Blue. He’s grinning widely at whatever his younger brother is saying, his hand going up to ruffle Matthew’s hair playfully as Matthew frowns at him.

Adam can’t take it. He’s still incredibly embarrassed about their last conversation in Ronan’s car (altercation is probably a better word) but his desperate desire to make things right overrules his ego.

He takes a step forward, and then another one, and another, until eventually he’s close enough to call Ronan’s name without having to shout.

In the end, Ronan seems to be just as attuned to Adam’s presence as Adam is to his and he looks up, immediately meeting his eyes.

Adam opens his mouth but nothing comes out. 

Ronan looks just as pained and uncomfortable as Adam feels.

Matthew ends up being the one to break the ice.

“Hi!” He grins, his botticelli curls and blue eyes even more disarmingly adorable up close. “Do you know Ronan?”

Adam just nods, still not trusting himself to speak. Matthew elbows Ronan.

“Uh, yeah. This is Adam,” Ronan finally says, his voice cautious. “He goes to Aglionby with me and Dick.”

Matthew rolls his eyes. “I’m telling him you called him that.”

Ronan smirks, catching his stride again. “Then I’m telling him you’re the one who stepped on the library building in his model Henrietta.”

Matthew squawks. “That was an accident!”

“Doesn’t make it any less your fault,” Ronan responds. He’s about to exchange a fond can-you-believe-this look with Adam when he remembers that they aren’t exactly on the best of terms. (Not at the moment, anyway. Adam desperately hopes things will go back to how they were once he fixes things.)

“Hey Matty, why don’t you and Declan go ahead to the restaurant. I’ll meet you there in a bit.”

Matthew looks like he wants to protest but another look from Ronan silences him.

He turns to Adam and shoves his hand out like all of the etiquette training he’s ever been given has suddenly flooded back into his brain. “Nice to meet you, Adam.”

Adam bites back a smile and shakes his hand. “Nice to meet you, too.”

Matthew bounces away and they both watch him get into the back of a dark coloured Volvo idling on the other side of the parking lot.

Ronan turns back to face Adam as soon as the car pulls away.

“Parrish.”

His voice isn’t cold, at least not as cold as it had been the last time they’d talked, but it’s not exactly full of warmth either. He seems cautious (not that Adam can blame him).

“I’m sorry,” Adam blurts out before he can stop himself.

Ronan raises his eyebrows in what appears to be genuine surprise.

“You were right. About Tad. He’s an asshole and he lied about everything.”

Ronan nods slowly, running his hand over the back of his head. “What changed your mind?”

“Gansey, at first. He dropped by a couple of days ago to explain his side of things with Blue and, uh, with you.” Adam forces himself to meet Ronan’s eyes. “Then I saw the evidence for myself firsthand. Tad dropped his bag and a bunch of prescription pill bottles came rolling out but none of them had his name on them.”

Ronan stares at him in silence, just looking at Adam’s face like he’s searching for something. Adam hopes he sees whatever it is he’s trying to find.

“But I’m going to fix things,” Adam adds before the silence can go on for too long.

Ronan frowns as Adam takes his phone out of his pocket and pulls up his recent text conversation with Tad.

“I’m going to meet with him tomorrow and secretly record him. He thinks you and I still hate each other, I’m sure I can convince him that I’m on his side and get him to admit what he did.”

“ _ Still _ hate each other?” Ronan asks, and that’s not at all the part of the sentence that Adam had expected him to focus on.

“Well, I mean, I never hated you. I was mad at you for what you did to Blue - actually I’m still pissed about that, just for the record - but I didn’t want to stop being friends.” Adam looks down, his face flushing. “I’ve missed talking to you.”

Ronan hesitates and then takes a step forward, putting his hand on Adam’s shoulder.

“You don’t have to do this. This whole thing with Tad, it’s my issue, not yours. Tad’s a pompous asshole but he can be dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt too.”

Adam shakes his head. “I might be the only one who can get close enough to him to finally expose what he did. He can’t just keep getting away with this shit.”

“Okay,” Ronan sighs. “If you’re sure that you want to do this.”

“I’m sure.”

“Thank you,” Ronan says softly, his voice more gentle than Adam thought he was even capable of.

Adam nods again just as his watch beeps.

“Shit, I need to get ready for work,” Adam blurts out as he starts walking back to his apartment.

“Wait,” Ronan says, grabbing his hand. He drops it almost immediately, flexing his hand as though touching Adam had given him a cramp,  but his face is flushed.

“I didn’t get a chance to apologize to you either. I shouldn’t have talked to Blue like that. You’re right, it was none of my business.”

Adam smiles. “As much as I appreciate the apology, and I do, I think it’s Blue who should be the one hearing it.”

Ronan smirks. “I’ll make sure to tell her when I get back to Monmouth.”

Adam’s eyes go wide at the implications of what he’s just said and Ronan bursts out laughing.

“She didn’t stay overnight or anything, don’t worry. She told Dick she’s coming by to pick up her sweater.”

Adam rolls his eyes but he can’t quite hide the fondness he’s feeling. “Later, Lynch.”

Ronan gives him a salute. “See you, Parrish.”

Even after he makes it back up to his apartment, Adam’s hand is still burning from where Ronan touched him.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [This chapter brought to you by the scene in P&P where Lizzy stares fondly at Darcy and Georgianna through a doorway in his Pemberley estate until he spots her and then she fucking bolts.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZqOhS2M-DU)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to emmerrr for beta'ing this <3
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated (especially comments speculating on where the plot is going to go ... not that i will confirm or deny anything ... yet ... ;) 
> 
> For those who have read the book or watched the movie, I'd love to know who you think each character's P&P counterpart is (or will be).
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at saintagnesparrish and reblog the fic post [here](http://saintagnesparrish.tumblr.com/post/171804194651/a-truth-universally-acknowledged-pynch-fic)


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